A visual route through modern IT.
No long articles, no quizzes. Each step is a diagram you can interact with, followed by a short, precise explanation.
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What is Cloud Computing?
Cloud computing is on-demand access to computing resources — servers, storage, databases and higher-level services — operated by a provider and consumed over a network.
Build the foundations.
IT Fundamentals
The building blocks every other topic depends on: hardware, operating systems, servers, data and interfaces.
What is a Computer?
A computer takes input, processes it with a CPU using memory, keeps results in storage and returns output.
View diagramWhat is an Operating System?
An operating system sits between applications and hardware, sharing the machine safely between programs.
View diagramWhat is a Server?
A server is a computer whose job is to answer requests from other computers, continuously.
View diagramWhat is a Database?
A database stores structured data and answers queries reliably, even with many users writing at once.
View diagramWhat is an API?
An API is a documented contract that lets one piece of software ask another to do something.
View diagramUnderstand modern cloud.
Cloud Computing
How on-demand computing works: service models, virtualisation, networking, regions, security, observability, AI services and Microsoft cloud workplaces.
What is Cloud Computing?
Cloud computing is on-demand access to computing resources — servers, storage, databases and higher-level services — operated by a provider and consumed over a network.
View diagramIaaS vs PaaS vs SaaS
The three service models differ in one thing: how much of the stack the provider operates for you.
View diagramWhat is a Virtual Machine?
A virtual machine is a software-defined computer that shares one physical host with other isolated machines.
View diagramCloud Networking Basics
Cloud networking gives you a private, software-defined network with explicit rules about what may talk to what.
View diagramRegions & Availability Zones
A region is a geographic location; availability zones are physically separate data centre groups inside it.
View diagramCloud Security Basics
Cloud security starts with identity: prove who is asking, then allow only what that identity needs.
View diagramMonitoring vs Observability
Monitoring watches for known problems; observability is being able to investigate ones you did not predict.
View diagramAI in the Cloud
Cloud AI services expose trained models as APIs, so applications can use them without owning accelerators.
View diagramMicrosoft Cloud & Modern Work
Microsoft 365 is SaaS for everyday work; identity ties it together, and Copilot works on top of that same content.
View diagramSee how systems connect.
Architecture
The shapes of real systems: clients and servers, load balancing, service boundaries and content delivery.
What is a Load Balancer?
A load balancer spreads incoming requests across several healthy instances of the same service.
View diagramClient-Server Architecture
Clients request, servers respond, and state lives behind the server rather than on the device.
View diagramMonolith vs Microservices
A monolith deploys as one unit; microservices split the same capabilities into independently deployable services.
View diagramWhat is a CDN?
A content delivery network serves copies of your content from locations close to the user.
View diagramLearn how modern systems run.
DevOps
How software gets built, shipped and operated: pipelines, containers, infrastructure as code and operational signals.
What is CI/CD?
CI/CD is an automated path from a code change to a running release, with checks at every step.
View diagramWhat are Containers?
A container packages an application with its dependencies and runs as an isolated process on a shared OS kernel.
View diagramInfrastructure as Code
Infrastructure as code describes environments in version-controlled files instead of manual console clicks.
View diagramMonitoring and Alerting
Monitoring turns system signals into a small number of alerts that are worth waking someone for.
View diagramGuided
Or follow a learning path
Three ordered sequences that build up understanding step by step.
IT Basics
The vocabulary everything else assumes: machines, operating systems, servers, data and APIs.
- 1What is a Computer?
- 2What is an Operating System?
- 3What is a Server?
- 4What is a Database?
- 5What is an API?
Cloud Fundamentals
From the definition of cloud computing to service models, virtual machines, regions and security.
- 1What is Cloud Computing?
- 2IaaS vs PaaS vs SaaS
- 3What is a Virtual Machine?
- 4Cloud Networking Basics
- 5Regions & Availability Zones
- 6Cloud Security Basics
DevOps Foundations
How modern software is shipped and kept running: pipelines, containers, automation and signals.
- 1What is CI/CD?
- 2What are Containers?
- 3Infrastructure as Code
- 4Monitoring and Alerting
- 5Monitoring vs Observability